Bengaluru: Four Ayyappa devotees, including a 7-year-old girl, were killed and seven injured when the vehicle they were travelling in rammed a parked truck on Bengaluru-Pune national highway at Kora in Tumakuru district early Friday.The devotees, who belong to Kukkanur village in Koppal, north Karnataka, were returning home from Sabarimala when the accident occurred at 5.30am. The victims are Sakshi, 7, Marutappa, 45, Venkatesh, 30 and Gavisiddappa, 28. Sakshi’s father, Huligappa, vehicle driver Pradeep and fellow villagers Rajappa, Rakesh, Tirupati, and two more men were injured in the accident. Three of them were shifted to Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru for treatment.

“A truck from Andhra Pradesh, heading in the direction of Chitradurga, was parked on the roadside. Pradeep noticed the truck only from a short distance and failed to control his vehicle,” a police officer said. The impact of the collision was so severe that front part of the vehicle was stuck beneath the truck and had to be cut before it could be pulled out.Asked whether the truck driver had turned on the vehicle’s parking lights, the officer said, “We are yet to ascertain that since the truck’s tail lamps were damaged in the accident.

The truck driver and assistants fled the scene, leaving behind the vehicle.”Most of the devotees are farmers; some are self-employed or daily-wage workers, the families told police. Man riding triple with pals dies in freak accidentA 28-year-old owner of a juice shop in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, riding triple with two friends, died after coming under the wheels of a BMTC bus in Electronics City Friday afternoon.The victim, Kani Raju, was riding his friend Ponnuraju’s bike when the accident occurred at 12.30pm.“Riding triple (with Ponnuraju and another friend, Kumar), Raju was headed towards Togur. While passing the BMTC bus coming from the opposite direction, the edge of the bike’s right handle brushed the vehicle. As a result, Raju fell to his right side and came under the rear wheels of the bus. Ponnuraju and Kumar fell to their left and escaped with minor injuries,” a police officer said.Cops arrested the BMTC driver for causing death due to negligence.